Pacific Crest Trail

Our SOBO thru-hike of the PCT from July-November 2016

In few regions of the world—certainly nowhere else in the United States—are found such a varied and priceless collection of the sculptured masterpieces of nature as adorn, strung like pearls, the mountain ranges of Washington, Oregon and California. The Pacific Crest Trailway is the cord that binds this necklace

More PCT pictures, stories, and maps by section:

Pre-Trip PCT FAQs

Food

Q: How much food do you carry?

A: We don't have to carry food for the entire trip at once. Like all thru-hikers we've made a plan to "resupply" along the trail. Time/distance between resupply locations varies, but is generally 5-6 days. Many parts of the trail have frequent road crossings that facilitate resupply every few days, though we do not plan many periods of less 5 days between stops. Through the Sierra Nevada range in CA will be our longest stretches without resupply, as road access is limited and many options require long walks on side trails & over passes to reach the road. We currently anticipate having two 8 or 9 day stretches between resupply dates in that section. Incidentally, the longest backpacking trip we've done without a resupply is 14 days (we've done several 10-13 day trips without resupply, though on those trips we haven't covered the high daily mileage typical for thru-hiking).

Q: HOW DO YOU RESUPPLY ALONG THE TRAIL?

A: "It takes a village" as the saying goes - in our case the village consists of friends, family, and some awesome people we haven't even met in person (yet). Andrew's family lives near Seattle and they have generously offered to meet us each place the PCT crosses a major road throughout the entire state of WA to deliver those resupplies. Our plans for the rest of the trail vary. In some places we will mail a resupply box to a hiker-friendly store or motel in a town near the PCT (post offices will hold mail/packages for PCT hikers, but usually have more limited hours). Cheri's family lives near the halfway point of the PCT so we'll stay with them as we pass through. They are also serving as our homebase for mailing resupply boxes and spare clothing/gear. We are lucky to have several other friends, friends-of-friends, and friends-of-family who live near the trail throughout OR & CA that will hold a resupply box, pick us up where the trail meets a road, and host us for the night before returning us to the trail. In a handful of locations we'll depend on hitching a ride from the trail to our resupply point and back to the trail.

Q: WHAT DO YOU EAT?

A: Many thru-hikers live on a diet of food that can be found in convenience stores (think Pop Tarts, Snickers bars, Slim Jims, Knorr sides, instant ramen, Minute Rice, etc), whether they buy along the way or purchase all of it in advance. We recently saw a FB post from someone who abandoned their Appalachian Trail attempt early in the hike and was trying to sell their remaining resupply food -- 400 packs of chocolate Pop Tarts, 250 PayDay candy bars, 40# salted peanuts, 80 packs ramen... you get the idea. While there's some beauty in the simplicity of this "junk food" approach, it doesn't really fit our lifestyle. Food is an important part of our lives at home, and that focus doesn't change on the trail. We look for high-quality foods that are calorie-dense, relatively light in weight, able to sit around in a resupply box for weeks or months, survive jostling in a backpack, and don't take up too much space in a bear canister. Variety is important to us on the trail as it is at home. Oh, and the food has to taste great too (at least on the trail), or it doesn't make the cut. We don't worry about calculating calories but know that we'll each be burning 4000-6000 daily through much of the hike so try to take food that counts!

Almost all of the dinners we eat on-trail will be meals we prepared at home and dehydrated ourselves. This allows us to have a wide variety of healthy & delicious vegetarian (or pescetarian) meals with locally sourced, organic ingredients. The rest of the day we'll generally depend on store-bought/packaged items but still try to source foods that we enjoy and can feel good about eating. We'll almost always start the day with a brekkie of granola + dried milk +/- freeze-dried or dried fruits, and coffee (Cheri) or tea (Andrew). From there we tend to eat every hour or two through the day until it's time for dinner - the longest lunch ever! Thanks to several friends in the industry we've received some generous discounts and donations to supplement plenty of standard shopping.

Q. WHAT DO YOU DO WITH YOUR TRASH?

A. Pack it in, pack it out! We carry all food wrappers and other trash to the next resupply point, where we can dispose of our garbage properly. We usually dedicate one or two ziplock bags to trash as we hike. When planning food and packing our resupply boxes we try to minimize packaging to reduce the amount of garbage to carry on-trail.

Gear

Q: WHAT DO YOU CARRY? HOW MUCH DOES IT WEIGH?

A: Our gear list is down below. We've listed weights of many items for those who might be planning a trip who want to compare options. We tend to own gear that is relatively lightweight, though we would not qualify as "ultra-lightweight" backpackers or "gram-counters." We want to be prepared for any type of weather or trail conditions, though a lighter backpack is ideal. When we consider whether to include an item in our backpacks we compare weight to benefit. Some "luxuries" are worth their weight! We'll probably make some adjustments as we go, though much of our gear has already been with us on many backpacking trips so we're comfortable with our setup.

Q: HOW WILL YOU RECHARGE YOUR DEVICES ON-TRAIL?

A: Solar chargers are popular among thru-hikers, but we carried one on our JMT thru-hike and found it to be a huge hassle. We spent an enormous amount of time fiddling with the device to get the right sun exposure, and the energy produced was relatively paltry. Solar technology has improved dramatically since then, but so have our power needs (wants). For the past several seasons we've hiked with a compact external battery from RAVpower - it holds enough power to completely charge a smartphone ~3 times. For the PCT we upgraded to a new model of battery, which weighs a bit more but also has much greater capacity. We'll plug it into the wall to recharge whenever we are in town, then use it in between resupply points to charge our phones, camera, and keyboard. We prefer battery-powered headlamps for convenience/reliability and will always have fresh AAAs in our packs. Our GPS unit takes lithium AAs, and we will also have spares available.

Clothing

Q: WHAT DO YOU WEAR? DO YOU GET COLD?

A: Since we have to carry everything that we will wear or use, clothing needs to be multi-functional or layer well. What people decide to wear is pretty individual. Most will have a long sleeve and a short sleeve shirt, a warm layer, and a waterproof layer. As you can see from our gear list, we each have several layers to choose from and if it's really cold we might be wearing all of it at once.

Q: DO YOU WEAR HEAVY BOOTS LIKE CHERYL IN "WILD"?

A: Through WA in July there is a lot of hiking across snow. We have waterproof trail running shoes combined with tall gaiters to help keep our feet dry in this section. Once we cross into OR, we will change into lighter weight trail running shoes and gaiters for the rest of the hike. Neither one of us prefers to wear heavy hiking boots.

Q: DON'T YOUR CLOTHES GET DIRTY?

A: In a word, yes. In fact, really, really dirty. SO dirty that after a while they can never look clean again. But we will do laundry when it is available at resupply stops, usually wearing our rain clothes so that we can wash everything else at once. And on-trail we rinse underwear, socks, and sportsbras then hang on the outside of our packs to dry so that each day we have a "cleanish" set to wear. We plan to pick up a new set of hiking clothes (pants, shirts) around the halfway point of our hike, so we won't be wearing the same exact clothes for the entire journey.

Hiking

Q: DO YOU SLEEP IN A TENT OR UNDER THE STARS?

A: Both. We always carry a tent and will spend plenty of nights in it. If we don't expect bugs, precipitation, or extreme cold we often just throw our sleeping pads & bags down on the groundcloth and sleep right under the stars. While there are lighter weight tents and shelters available, we prefer the convenience and reliability of a freestanding tent and chose one of the lightest on the market. We absolutely love our 3-season Mica FL 2 from The North Face. It's been with us for several seasons now and has been amazing in all types of conditions including late fall snow in the Sierra and serious hail in the Rubies. As much as we love our tent, it's a pretty compact affair and it's good that we like each other. No glamping here.

Q: How far do you hike each day?

A: Snow remains in the Cascades through July, and the Pacific Crest Trail is not marked for winter use. Trail signs and tree blazes may not be visible, so we must spend time locating the route. Walking on snow is more difficult than walking on the ground (think of running on a sandy beach). Finally, the trail may not have been "logged out" early in the season, so we will have to navigate downed logs and other obstacles. In short, this all takes longer than hiking a well-maintained and snow-free trail. Our goal is to hike 12-15 miles daily through early WA. Our mileage will gradually increase as the snow melts, the terrain gets easier, and our packs get lighter without snow gear, so we will probably hike upwards of 30 miles daily through parts of OR and northern CA. Through the Sierra our mileage may be closer to 20 miles a day due to more difficult terrain and heavier packs (many days between each resupply).

Q: Where do you camp?

A: We generally sleep wherever we stop for the day, using what is sometimes called "dispersed camping" since there are not designated or developed campsites along most of the trail. Sites are selected at least 100' from the trail and 200' from a water source, in an area with a durable surface, to minimize our impact (standard leave-no-trace principles). In some areas there are designated campsites for backpackers that look much like a typical car-camping campground without any space for parking. They charge a small fee and provide a picnic table, fire ring, and area for pitching a tent. We prefer dispersed camping but in certain areas it is required to stay in designated sites (ie. Tuolumne Meadows, Crater Lake, Stehekin). Occasionally, we have the luxury of staying indoors. In particular we are looking forward to the splurge of a stay at Timberline Lodge in OR, the hospitality of the Trout Lake Abbey in WA, and the generosity of several friends who have offered to host us in their homes as we pass nearby.

It does NOT post location updates, send messages, or do any type of 2-way communication

It DOES provide us a way to summon assistance in the case of a true emergency

We have never needed to activate this device, and hope it will remain un-used on the PCT

We'd love to receive written communications - see our planned itinerary and consider sending a card, letter, or small care package to us along the way

Cat, Plants, Bills, Mail, Cars

Our cat Nigel will be off at his own sleepaway camp, staying with friends during the hike

Our indoor plants will also go to camp of sorts, with Jen who has a very green thumb

Our favorite outdoor container plants are split between a neighbor's house and Cheri's ceramic studio collective (the rest of them will have to fend for themselves)

Emily will stop by to water the blueberries, Meyer lemon and fig trees, and a few Japanese maples we don't want to risk losing

All of the bills that couldn't be cancelled are on auto-pay

We have electronic access to all of our bank accounts for regular use

Cynthia has taken on the task of checking our mail and keeping an eye out for any bills that slipped through the cracks

Our cars will sit at Cynthia's & Heather's places for the duration of our trip

Home

Our house is being remodeled, and we would have had to move out for some period of time anyway

Belongings that aren't with us or waiting at a resupply location are in storage

Our garden and yard will need some serious work when we return... but that is a price we're willing to pay

Support our PCT Journey

We are both fortunate to have found fulfilling careers in professions that we love. This little "sabbatical" is made possible by many years of saving, direct logistical help from several friends, generous acts by more people than we could list here, words of encouragement from many in our awesome community, and a leap of faith that we will both find good jobs with great people when we return home.

We are huge believers in a universal 'karma bank', and in the concept of 'pay it forward', so you can participate in our journey directly by contributing to our PCT hike, or indirectly by helping others in need.

If you want to be a part of this journey, here are some ideas:

Host a hiker (cyclist, kayaker, trail runner...) in your home, or share a meal, or provide a warm shower, or offer a ride from a trailhead to town

To create karma, you perform good deeds with no expectation of anything in return for your kindness. Good deeds for the greater good of the community, country, or world magnify into greater karma. As your karma bank improves, you will find that good fortune, love, and a longer life become your destiny – all things that were not there before the good deeds were performed. 